Thursday, July 10, 2014

In Bed With The Competition by J.K. Coi with Giveaway, Excerpt & Review

Book Title: In Bed with the Competition

Author: J.K. Coi

Release Date: June 30, 2014

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Book
Synopsis:

This rivalry is too hot for the
tropics…

Elizabeth Carlson and Ben
Harrison used to be friends, coworkers... and almost lovers. But that was before Ben proposed
mixing business with pleasure. Elizabeth refuses to lose her heart to a hotshot
tycoon with a cutthroat, take-no-prisoners attitude. Not with the prospect of
starting her own company at stake.

Driven to succeed in all areas of
his life, Ben couldn’t resist the temptation to make Liz his. But then she walked away,
igniting a bitter rivalry. Competing for the same contract at a Caribbean
conference ignites sparks too hot to ignore, and Ben’s determined to finish
what they started, even if it’ll only last a few steamy, tropical nights.

Elizabeth’s resolve begins to
crumble under Ben’s blatant seduction. Can she walk away from a hot island
fling with the sexiest man she’s ever known with her heart intact, or will
losing herself in Ben destroy everything she’s fought to achieve?

Ben
Harrison had seen his fair share of women in bikinis, but this one seemed
different. For one, she wasn’t model thin with toothpicks for limbs, but had
killer curves and legs that went for miles. His mouth went dry as he took it
all in. A wide straw hat. The thin ribbon ties of her top coming together in
the middle of her back. The ends trailing down a few inches, drawing the eye to
the curve of her waist and then lower, to bright red bottoms.

He
felt guilty for staring and averted his gaze, but Nolan’s low whistle of
appreciation reflected Ben’s sentiments exactly.

He
turned to his friend with a raised brow. “What are you looking
at?”

Nolan
leaned up on one elbow and tilted his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose.
“The same thing as you, I’m thinking.”

“Well,
you can just lie back down and forget about it. We might be here a couple of
days early, but there’s still a lot to do to get ready for the convention.” Ben
enjoyed the occasional break, which is why he and his business partner Steve
Nolan had come to Antigua two days before this convention was scheduled to
begin. But no matter where he went, he never left the work entirely behind,
because he still hadn’t achieved his goals.

“Not
for me,” Nolan protested with a grin. “And not for you, either. We got this
nailed, Harrison. Everyone will be lining up to hand over their money. And you
have to admit, if you look at any more reports, you’re going to go blind. Trust
me, nobody likes a squinting playboy without a tan, no matter how innovative he
is.”

Ben
frowned. A year ago he’d been a nobody, fighting tooth and nail to make his
mark along with all the rest, but after appearing at a few gala events with
heiress and model-turned-CEO Meredith Stone, someone had decided to run a story
on him, and suddenly he was considered a playboy. “It’s bad enough I get that
shit from the media. I don’t need to hear it from you, too.”

“What?
You don’t appreciate the attention?” Nolan smirked.

It
was disconcerting and inconvenient, but Nolan was of the opinion that a little
media attention of any kind was a good thing. It had the potential to translate
into the kind of corporate interest they desperately needed, and that made it
worth putting up with for a while. Both of them had sunk everything they had
into their cutting-edge software development company, but it just wasn’t
enough. They needed more capital, and they needed it now.

That’s
what had brought them to Antigua. The Artificial Intelligence world was a small
one, all the industry players would be at this convention, and they would all
be looking for the next big Internet money-maker—that’s where Optimus Inc. came
in.

Nolan
grinned. “If you ask me, the fact that the media hounds have locked onto
someone else’s scent for a while is fucking fantastic.”

“Yeah,
I’m sure you’re ecstatic,” Ben answered with a shake of his head.

The
reporters might suddenly consider Ben Harrison’s life fodder for their pages,
but they practically wet themselves over any chance to photograph brilliant mathematician
and bad boy Steve Nolan, whose family had been the stuff of society legend
until it all fell apart in a public scandal a few years ago…and who was now
having too damn much fun at Ben’s expense.

Ben’s
attention shifted back to the woman on the pool deck. She faced away from them,
having arranged herself on an available deck chair in front of the sparkling
pool. She was applying lotion to her legs and thighs. Her motions were slow and
smooth, the sun bouncing off her perfect, slick skin. It didn’t take much for
him to start imagining those legs wrapped around him…

Maybe
he had been staring at reports too long. After all, he’d left
New York early to scratch his itch for adventure…and a reckless island fling
could be exactly the thing he needed.

Nolan
moved to get out of his chair. “Well, since you’re not going over there, I
think I’ll introduce myself—”

“No
way.” Ben shoved him back. He stood and grabbed his shirt, flinging it over his
shoulder. “You’ve got your wish. I’ll clock out for the rest of the day, but
that means you have to check in with Clarissa in New York.”

Nolan
groaned good-naturedly. “Where are you going?”

“Don’t
worry about me.” He glanced over his shoulder. “With any luck, I’ll soon be
sufficiently distracted for the rest of the night.”

Ben
walked away, but having escaped Nolan, he quickly changed his mind, deciding he
was going back to his room after all. He didn’t want to intrude on the woman’s
privacy. There was going to be a preponderance of a certain type of person at
the resort this week: execs and programmers specializing in programming
initiatives, and the marketing bottom feeders who were just looking to
capitalize on someone else’s innovation. The facilities had been completely
booked by the convention, so while he couldn’t picture many software engineers
who looked like her, it stood to reason she was another early arrival taking
advantage of an opportunity for some time to relax before the hordes descended,
and he didn’t want to encroach on that.

As
he passed her chair, though, he couldn’t help but slow. A large beach bag
rested on the ground beside her, a colorful towel spilling out of it. He
wondered if she planned to take a dip in the pool later. That was something he
didn’t think he’d want to miss out on.

Right
now, she lounged back in the reclined deck chair. Her drop dead gorgeous body
was presented to the sun like an offering, and the front of her was equally as
stunning as the rest. The round globes of her breasts teased him from behind
smallish triangles of bright red Lycra. Her skin was smooth and creamy,
gleaming with the layer of sunscreen she’d just applied, but pale, as if she
took vacation about as often as he did. Then again, after a few days in that
tiny bikini, she’d be golden in no time.

She’d
taken out a book, presumably from the depths of the large bag, but it lay
closed in her lap. He raised his brows. That was some dense, technical subject
matter. His first instinct had been correct; she was obviously here for the
convention. That put a different spin on his interest, and he stopped walking
altogether, trying to decide if he recognized her. He thought he might, but
oversize dark glasses covered her eyes.

She
wore a thick gold band on her thumb that looked better suited to a man, but no
rings on any of her other fingers, including the third finger of her left hand.
Not that such an absence meant as much these days as it used to. The band gave
him pause, though. He used to know someone who wore a thumb ring like that.

Looking
closer, he tried to see past the floppy straw hat. It covered her face and
hair, with a red ribbon that matched her bikini. Thick curls escaped from
beneath it and fell to her shoulders. He used to know someone with tight curls
like that, too.

“Um,
excuse me. You’re in my sun.”

He
was startled by her relaxed, husky voice, as if she’d just been through a long
night of steamy sex, and he was the man who’d awakened her with kisses to do it
all over again. That voice was familiar, too.

Very familiar.

He
cleared his throat and inclined his head with his most approachable smile. “My
apologies. You caught me daydreaming.”

“Oh,
is that what you were doing? Not staring at my…uh…hat?” Her lips were coated
with some kind of clear gloss that made them look wet and full. A cocked
eyebrow rose above the rim of her sunglasses. The way she did that, the tilt of
her head as she looked up at him…

He
laughed, but his gut tightened. “Ah, maybe you’re right, and that’s what got me
daydreaming. You have a very lovely…hat after all.”

The
hair was different. Her body was different…or maybe he’d just never seen so
much of it before. If only he could look into her eyes to know for sure.

He
readjusted the shirt he’d thrown over his shoulder and stepped closer. “Would
you and your hat care to meet me in the bar tonight for a drink?”

That
eyebrow went up again at his boldness, and her hand clenched on the book in her
lap like a shield.

“I
don’t mean to intrude on your holiday,” he added quickly. “But if you’re here
alone and you’d like some company…”

She
pressed her lips together, and he felt the weight of her assessing gaze
travelling down the length of him, even though he couldn’t see past the barrier
of her dark sunglasses.

After
a long moment, she reached up and slid the glasses down the bridge of her nose,
revealing deep green eyes. Green like the tropical water surrounding the
island.

Her
gaze was the same as a physical touch to his skin. Hot and unexpectedly
jarring. Those eyes.

Yes.
He knew those eyes.

He
knew her.

In
the time it took for him to verify his suspicion about her identity, her smile
turned brittle, and her expression hardened. “It’s only been a little over a
year, Harrison. Don’t tell me I was that forgettable.”

My Review: 4 1/2 starsI really enjoyed this story of second chances. Ben is a ruthless businessman who holds nothing back, and gives no second chances to anyone. Not after his heart was ripped out. Beth is his competitor, and also the girl who did the ripping, not that she really knew how he felt. Both are a few days early for a conference and the chemistry between them is off the charts, and it only rises the longer the conference goes on. They both have similar yet different companies that are looking for investors. In between business meetings Ben and Beth rebuild what was once broken, and Ben realizes that Beth did and does feel something for him, but that she's afraid. Beth realizes that there are some things that you should absolutely take a chance on, and that some things are out of your control. There are quite a few things that happen, unexpected twists, a tropical storm and some heart breaking moments. But it's such a good read. I absolutely loved the ending, and am looking forward to reading more from Ms. Coi.

Author
Bio:

J.K. Coi is a multi-published, award winning author of
contemporary and paranormal romance and urban fantasy. She makes her home in
Ontario, Canada, with her husband and son and a feisty black cat who is the
uncontested head of the household. While she spends her days immersed in the
litigious world of insurance law, she is very happy to spend her nights writing
dark and sexy characters who leap off the page and into readers’ hearts.